Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a meeting with his deputies

GORKI, September 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a governmental resolution confirming the international status of all Russian seaports.

“I have signed a resolution confirming the international status of all Russian seaports, including those in the Russian republic of Crimea,” he said at a meeting with deputy prime ministers on Monday.

The premier noted that this decision was needed, because “several documents which had earlier confirmed the opening of seaports for international traffic are outdated or were just lost in some cases.” “This incompliance resulted in specific legal procrastination,” Medvedev said with regret.

After the government resolution was signed “border control and customs clearance for foreign ships arriving in the country will be much easier.” “Additional permits and co-ordination will not be needed any longer and the very ports will be able to operate more energetically and at full strength,” the premier said.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich noted that in the last 25 years Russia's ports have operated de jure without a finally determined status, though de facto they were open for visits of foreign sea-going ships. However, documents for several ports were not found even in the archives, for instance a seaport in the city of Anadyr, far north-eastern Russia, in some other cases “documents were classified [for seaports in far eastern city of Vladivostok, northern city of Arkhangelsk and north-western city of Vyborg],” Dvorkovich said.

The deputy prime minister explained that the recently signed government resolution “actually legalises, grants a clear-cut legal status to all Russian seaports, including those in Crimea, as they are fully open for visits of foreign sea-sailing vessels.” “All this information is public, everybody has access to it, all obstacles are lifted, including legal, for full-fledged functioning of these ports,” Dvorkovich added.